Greenbelt, MD— U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang sentenced David Carl Tranberg, age 42, of Bowie, Maryland, today to 90 months in federal prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release, for distribution of child pornography. Judge Chuang also ordered that upon his release from prison, Tranberg must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Colonel William M. Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Special Agent in Charge Jeremy Gauthier of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Washington Field Office.
According to his plea agreement, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) notified the Maryland State Police (MSP) that between July 1, 2015 and July 5, 2015, 24 uploads containing child pornography had been uploaded to a virtual bulletin board from an IP address associated with Tranberg’s residence in Bowie, Maryland.
On August 25, 2015, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Tranberg’s home. Tranberg waived his rights and agreed to speak with law enforcement. Tranberg admitted to officers that he had a laptop containing child pornography and that he used a free online group-chat program to view and share images and videos of child pornography. Tranberg advised that he preferred females between the ages of six and ten years old. While he claimed to have molested children in his online chat rooms, Tranberg denied ever touched a child.
Law enforcement seized two laptop computers, a tablet, cellular phones, and other electronic media from Tranberg’s residence. A forensic analysis of Tranberg’s laptop revealed 20,149 images and videos of child pornography. These included 1,704 images and 52 images of children previously identified as victims of child pornography by NCMEC, and the images identified in the cybertips from July 2015. Forensic examination also revealed chats in which Transberg discussed the molestation of children.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “resources” tab on the left of the page.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended Maryland State Police and NCIS for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly O’Connell Hayes and Kristi N. O’Malley, who are prosecuting the federal case.
